JBS beef buy is bad for everyone
If JBS Swift's buyout of National Beef, Smithfield's beef slaughter operations and Smithfield's massive Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC, the nation's largest cattle feedlot with one-time capacity of 811,000 head, the three remaining firms will have over 80 percent market share of U.S. steer/heifer slaughter.
Who will be big meat’s next fat hog?
Two of the world’s biggest meatpackers, Tyson Foods and JBS SA, are in a bare-knuckled, checkbook throw-down over who will own Hillshire Brands, the...
Slouching toward Election Day
There are facts on which the world operates and there are facts on which politics operate. Spoiler alert: The two are not the same.
The ‘level playing field’ of trade
Some phrases just make the heart flutter. “Call the vet,” was one that always tripped my father’s ticker. “Level the playing field of trade,”...
Rural America’s dramatic decline
The gap between America's rural poor and non-poor, like in urban areas, continues to widen. However, that the gap is widening faster in rural America.
The state of our farm and food union
How are politics affecting agriculture and what lies ahead? Alan Guebert analyzes what he calls "the current state of the American farm and food union."
Jury agrees: Cattle markets rigged
Columnist Alan Guebert gives details on the recent Tyson Foods court ruling, called the most important event in U.S. livestock history since the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921.
It may not be Paris, but it comes close
Journalism and jets have carried me to some of the world's great capitals. Most of those cities, like New Delhi, Paris, London, Prague, Mexico...
Sustainability and the future of ag
Sales of food and beverages bearing labels relating to environmental sustainability have seen increases in the last few years and the trend should continue.
Fifth Avenue cowboys are running our beef industry
The owner of the largest cattle feedlot operation isn't a rancher, feedlot operator or meatpacker. It's "a private ... alternative asset management firm."
